MacEwan University
EN-9: Community Partnerships

MacEwan University's Retail and Campus Services (RCS) department has partnered with Get Cooking Edmonton to provide them with commercial space for their growing business. Get Cooking seeks to inspire the community to think local and cook global with fresh ingredients from Edmonton's local producers (including produce from Riverbend Gardens Community Supported Agriculture) and markets. Get Cooking will be offering cooking classes starting in September 2014. RCS has also partnered with Creative Edmonton. Creative Edmonton is made up of a group of community organizers that aim to support local causes. Together, MacEwan University and Creative Edmonton have created an on campus market called "mstore Commons" that showcases local artists, businesses, and musicians. Faculty member Leo Wong has partnered with the City of Edmonton and their Office of the Environment on the delivery of the Earth Hour campaign. Students enrolled in LENP 312 (Introduction to Non-Profit Management) class organize a campaign to help promote Earth Hour locally. Students make 'Earth Hour starter kits' and distribute to local elementary schools. This project will be entering its 3rd year this Winter 2015.

Riverbend Gardens is a local farm in Edmonton that runs a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program. In the CSA, freshly harvested vegetables are delivered weekly to university students, staff, and faculty for a subscription fee. The program allows Riverbend Gardens to focus on growing high-quality produce and levels the playing field in a food market that favours industrialized agriculture over small-scale locally farmed food. It also ensures that a greater percentage of dollars remains in the local economy. The partnership with Riverbend Gardens also increases the MacEwan University community's access to high-quality, nutritious food. This partnership is led by Retail and Campus Services (RCS). RCS secured a pickup location in the MacEwan Residence and oversaw the marketing and communication strategy to bring awareness about this new service on campus. They also provided staff as necessary to coordinate the CSA pickups. The CSA pickup started at MacEwan University on July 3, 2014 and pickups run until October 9, 2014.